“The Athlete’s Fix” is very close to being released and is now available for ordering. But I thought I would take the opportunity before it hits the market to give a litle background as to how, and why the book came about. I have to admit it has been quite a process! While I knew that writing a book would not be an easy task, I now have a greater appreciation for each stage of the process and what is involved. Lessons learned that I think will be valuable as I am already hatching plans for further publications.

‘The Athletes Fix’ is published by Velopress and they have been instrumental in guiding every step of the journey. We first started having conversations what feels like, and probably is, many years ago. I felt like there was something missing in the market for guiding athletes to better performance through eating well that was a little different to the more common sports nutrition guidelines focusing on macros, timing, and to some extent more acute fuelling strategies. As an athlete I had found personal and profound benefits ranging from physical to mental by changing up my diet and eating more carefully. In particular I became aware of what I would term low tolerance for certain foods. I knew that other athletes could also benefit from exploring their own diets a little more closely.

From these conversations stemmed a firmer plan and goal for the book and in May 2013 was officially offered a contract to write the book. As anyone who writes knows actually getting words to the page can take time – time to gather thoughts, review previous content and shape direction for the coming section. The nature of the book and the at times complex and scientific principles I was trying to convey in an simple and approachable manner made this even more difficult. And a little slow. But with encouragement from the team at Velopress (and especially Renee – big big thank you!!) and support along the way the book started to come together.

Once it was written, it was rewritten and then rewritten. I am sure I bored the ears off my husband talking to him about sections of the book and probably even chatted to my baby girl for need of talking things through. Needless to say this was fruitless – my daughter not my husband that is, who was in fact extremely helpful in pulling me up, pointing out sections that needed further refinement or were overly technical. Finally I had a draft that I thought was ‘complete’. The next step was to send it through to the publishers. From this point it was again rewritten, reordered, pushed and pulled into shape. Their input was invaluable – their knowledge of the market but also presentation and how to pull together different sections of the book into approachable and meaningful sections is really not something that I fully appreciated (until now).

There was also artwork, and photography to work through – particularly in regard to the recipes. Because I am living on the other side of the world it was essential that communication was good in order that my ideas and visions were conveyed and reproduced in the final product. I have to say I am very happy with the end result visually. And also extremely thankful for all the help that I have received along the way. Producing a book is a real team affair and one that I play a role in with lots and lots of support.

So the end result then is something that I am very pleased of and proud of. I think it will benefit a lot of people – whether you compete at the pointy end of races or are just starting on your journey to improved fitness and health. It is designed as a starting point – as with any topic dealing with nutrition, or indeed the human body there really is no end point. As our knowledge and research expands there are sections that might need to be edited and updated. However I believe the solid basics of the book remain and will not date – it will always be a great resource for healthy people to achieve even greater health and also improve sporting performance. The recipes are all simple – tasty and rich in flavor but approachable for even the most basic of cooks. I do hope that some of them become household staples but that also they become the starting points for people to further experiment and adapt for themselves.

I also know that writing a book means that you are really putting yourself out there. And I am confident that the content and process has already helped a good number of people through my own private nutrition work.

So enjoy! Please let me know what you think once you have read the book and also keep a look out for more events and online seminars in which I will be answering further reader questions. In the meantime take a look at the PDF sneak peak by clicking the image below.